Protection International recently interviewed Pakistani human rights defender Rehana Hashmi about the importance of protection networks for fellow activists, especially women. Hashmi’s responses clearly reveal the dangers of being a woman and a human rights activist in Pakistan. She speaks to the gender inequality inherent in some of the protection networks available to human rights activists. Additionally, Hashmi emphasizes the ways whole families are often made into targets on account of a woman’s activism rather than a man’s. Female human rights defenders and their families are often forced into fleeing their home countries as petitions for protection go unanswered and ignored.